Many devices such as facsimiles and printers utilize continuous rolls of paper which require cutters. Some of these devices have a separate monitoring device to indicate when the blades are fully open and paper may be fed through the cutters. However, these cutter position devices do not indicate to an operator where in the cutting cycle the blades may not be closing or opening properly to allow an operator to accurately identify and correct malfunctions.
Various malfunctions may occur in the cutting process resulting in failure to cut, failure to completely cut material, and resulting in jamming of paper in the device. These failures can cause printer failure and loss of time and possibly sales for an operator of the printer. For example, it is very common to have point of sale (POS) printers for use with cash registers and check card/credit card printers. When the printer fails customers are forced to wait often resulting in loss of sales for the operator. Heretofore the printer operators only know when the cutters fail due to the fact that they have to manually cut the receipt from the paper roll, or there is a paper jam shutting down the printer. When there is a paper jam the operator may not realize that the jam is caused by the cutters failing to open completely, as opposed to a failure or malfunction in the printing system.
Several common types of cutter failures may appear random, but they indicate a problem which if addressed early will prevent any undue loss of time or operation of the printer. Other malfunctions may result in failure of the printer. If these symptoms of cutter blade wear, damage, or improper function of blades during the cutting process are noted and identified to the operator, the cutter may be disabled and service provided without excessive loss in time and operation of the printer.
It would be a benefit, therefore, to utilize the cutter blades as a switch to indicate when the cutter blades are fully open. It would be a further benefit to have a cutter blade position switch and a method which indicates when within a cutting cycle the cutter is malfunctioning. It would be a still further benefit to utilize the cutter blades to indicate when the cutter blades are malfunctioning and warn an operator or another of the malfunction.